Everlasting Arms
by pseudonym1235
Summary: Castiel met Dean when he was seven years old, and their friendship formed into something so strong it could carry on through the rest of their lives.
1. Next Year

_**Yeah so this first chapter is really short but the next ones hopefully won't be as short as this. Title is taken from the song "Everlasting Arms" by Vampire Weekend.**_

"Sorry, I didn't see you there, man," blurted out the boy who had just tripped and fell right on top of him. It was Castiel's first day of second grade at his new school. Currently, the class was outside for recess. Castiel sat on the ground, his nose stuck in a small book. He looked up at the boy who had tripped over him, who had quickly regained his stance after he had fallen. He had wind-mussed blond hair and a splash of freckles across his nose and cheeks, which were slightly flushed from physical activity. His eyes were bright green and they were bursting with the livelyhood of a seven year old.

After staring at each other for several minutes, Castiel replied, "It's quite alright." Unsure as to whether or not he should introduce himself, the other boy beat him to it.

"I'm Dean. Dean Winchester. I don't recognize you, are you new here?" Dean stated. He spoke very quickly, and he watched Castiel with rapt attention, waiting to see what his reply would be.

"Castiel Novak. Yes, my family moved to Lawrence just over the summer so I had to switch schools," Castiel mumbled softly, for he didn't talk very much since he did not usually enjoy attention. However, Dean seemed to hear him just fine, and he plopped himself down next to Castiel.

Dean seemed to consider Castiel's words. "Huh. That's cool, I guess, as long as you like it here. I've lived here my whole life." Dean stated with pride for his hometown. "So," Dean continued, "first day, I'm guessing you probably don't know many people yet?"

Castiel stared at Dean again, a bit embarrassed that he had not yet gained any friends and that Dean seemed to know it. He carefully replied, "You... would be correct, yes."

"How about I show you around here? I'll introduce you to people, try to find you some friends. What do you say?"

Castiel thought over this for a moment. "Alright, Dean." The words had barely left his mouth before Dean had yanked him to his feet.

"Cool! Everyone's gonna love you, Cas, don't worry. You'll fit in just fine!" Dean addressed Castiel in a gleeful tone. He tugged him across the playground toward the other kids.

Castiel sighed as he felt his arm being pulled out of its socket. _What have I got myself into,_ he thought to himself.


	2. Shiver Shiver

_**Thank you so much for the reviews!**_

"I have something for you, Dean," Castiel spoke as he ran up to Dean at school. It was late January, January 24th to be precise, and he was wearing a bright blue scarf to match his eyes. Dean turned around at the sound of Castiel's voice with a smile on his face. Castiel noticed that his nose was bright red from the cold, and he seemed poorly dressed for the current weather conditions. It was snowing heavily, and the ground was already covered in a thin sheet of dusty white.

Castiel handed the other boy a small, poorly wrapped package. Dean's eyes lit up at the prospect that Castiel had gotten him something for his eleventh birthday. Castiel knew that Dean didn't usually make a big deal about his birthday, but he also knew that was only because his father never made a big deal about it. After knowing Dean for three years, Castiel knew quite a lot about his family. Dean's mother died when he was four in a housefire, and his father had never been the same. He had a younger brother, Sammy, who Dean cared for as if he were his own child. Their father never looked after them well enough, so Dean had to take over his role.

"You didn't have to do this, Cas," Dean said over the sound of him tearing the paper off of the gift. Castiel waved his statement off. After he had gotten all of the paper off, Dean lifted the lid off the box and gave a sharp intake of breath. Inside was a rare copy of the original Batman comic series. Even though Dean didn't read very much, he did seem to take a liking to comics and graphic novels. "Cas, you're the best!" Dean gasped out excitedly.

"You're wel-" Castiel was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing, signaling that the class was to make their way inside to the fifth grade classroom for their morning classes. "We ought to go, Dean," Castiel tugged Dean inside by the arm and they made their way inside and down the hall.

"Really, thanks for the gift. The only person who ever even notices my birthday is Sammy."

Castiel rolled his eyes and replied, "I told you, Dean, there was no trouble. Let's get going."

After school, the boys walked to Castiel's house. Dean's father already knew where he was, as they did this every Friday. They stayed outside for awhile and played in the snow, which had built up throughout the school day. There was about four inches of snow for them to play in. Whenever it snowed, Dean would insist that they make snowangels, seeing as Castiel was named after an angel.

When they went inside, they found that Castiel's father was home and had made them hot chocolate. "There's pie in the fridge, if you boys want," he called to them from the hall as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"Thanks, Mr. Novak," Dean said to him. Chuck laughed and reminded Dean to call him by his first name, as "Mr. Novak" felt too formal. After grabbing something to drink, he walked back to the living room while Castiel got pie out of the fridge and readied some for the both of them.

As they drank their hot chocolate and ate their pie, Dean asked the other boy, "Where's your mom?" Castiel looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, which read 5:05. His mother was usually back by 4:30 and took Dean home.

Castiel shrugged and replied, "She works late sometimes. Maybe she's finishing her writing at work. I can see if my father could take you home?" Truth be told, Castiel didn't want Dean to go home just yet. Soon he would have to deal with Gabriel when he got home from his classes at the nearby college. Even though Gabriel was old enough to move out, he decided he would rather stay home than have to buy his own food.

Dean spoke almost too quickly, "No! No, that's okay. I can just wait until she gets back."

In the meantime, they both went up to Castiel's small, quaint room in the back of the house. The house was quite old, so there was a large hole in his bedroom wall which opened up into a small space above the living room ceiling. Castiel liked to relax out in this "room" whenever Dean came over or he wanted to get away from Gabriel, who didn't trust that the floor would be able hold his weight. The boys stayed in there and talked until they heard a call from downstairs.

"Castiel? Is Dean still here?" a feminine voice, the voice of Castiel's mother, called from downstairs. Becky Novak worked for the local newspaper and wrote an advice column for women. Her newspaper was affiliated with a local magazine, which Chuck wrote short stories in. That was how the two met.

"Yes, mother. We'll be down in a moment," Castiel shouted loud enough so she could hear him. He turned to Dean, "We should head downstairs so you can get home and your father won't be angry." Castiel started to climb out of the hole when Dean grabbed his arm. He turned back around to look into Dean's clover green eyes.

"Just... Thanks again, Cas," Dean shyly said, staring back at Castiel. They continued to stare at each other for a few minutes, something that was highly common for them.

"It was my pleasure, Dean," Castiel replied awhile afterward. He turned back around and the two clamored out of the hole and down the stairs to meet Becky in the kitchen by the back door.

"You boys ready?" she asked in her ever present peppy voice. After being given an affirmative, they made their way outside and into the car. On their way out, Castiel heard Gabriel debating with their father in the living room over whatever television show it was they were watching. They got out of the house and hopped into the backseat of the car. When they made it to Dean's house, he climbed out and turned back around to face Castiel.

"Thanks, Cas, you too, Mrs. Novak," Dean shivered when a gust of wind blew across his yard. "We'll hang out tomorrow, Cas?" he asked hopefully.

"Of course," Castiel replied. They saw each other almost every day, usually Dean didn't even have to ask. "Goodbye, Dean."

"See ya later, Cas," Dean smiled widely, slammed the car door shut, and ran across the yard towards his front door.


	3. I Would Do Anything For You

_Great,_ Castiel thought to himself as the other boys ran off laughing. Sighing, he bent down to pick up his books, which had spilled all over the ground. _What exactly did I do to them in the first place?_ he thought.

Castiel was a few months into the second semester of seventh grade. He only had one friend, Dean. Meanwhile, Dean had all the friends in the world. However, no one came before Cas.

Castiel heard feet jogging towards him and flinched, thinking it was the bullies again.

"Hey, Cas!" he heard, relieved that it was only Dean. He was still crouched on the ground, and looked forward to see that the feet had stopped right in front of him. "Wait... Cas?" he said, looking down to see Castiel picking up the rest his books.

Castiel sighed and stood back up again, saying, "Yes, Dean?" in an exasperated tone. A look of something Castiel couldn't identify flashed quickly over Dean's face.

"What's going on?" he asked, motioning towards Castiel's backpack. He looked worried and angry.

"Dean, this has been going on all year," Castiel spoke, "Your 'friends,' Dean, is what's going on." Somehow, Dean had failed to notice what his friends had been doing to Castiel all year. He hadn't even witnessed the worst of it. Castiel would be able to ignore the entire situation, if he even knew what the cause of this whole business was.

Dean looked furious. He was about to retort, but Castiel interrupted him, "Dean, we have to get to class. Come on." He proceeded to take off at a brisk pace down the hallway. Dean started after him, jogging up to meet him.

"Whoa, whoa, Cas, wait up," he said, breathless and angry, "Which people are we talking about here? How long have they been doing this to you?"

"Since the beginning of the year, Dean, I'm surprised such an attent human being as yourself has not noticed by now," Castiel snapped, feeling peevish and fed up with his fellow classmates. It was not his intention to take it out on Dean. He sighed for the third time, and spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you."

Dean smiled and punched his shoulder as they walked, "It's okay, Cas, just tell me who did this." His face became serious once more.

"Fine. It was Alastair and Michael," Castiel replied, not really wanting to discuss it. "We really should get to class, Dean, come on. Your first class isn't even near mine. Go."

Dean looked at Castiel sharply, exemplifying his still round 13 year old face, and walked away in the direction of his classroom. Castiel watched him go, then turned around and continued on the route to his classroom.

After class was over for the day, Castiel waited outside for Dean. He was late sometimes, but Castiel didn't care. However, it had been almost forty-five minutes since the end of school. Castiel was starting to worry, when Dean walked out with a deep gash across his eyebrow.

"Dean, what did you do?" Castiel quickly asked with worry seeping into his voice, running up to meet Dean.

"Obviously I had to take care of those idiots who were bullying my best friend," Dean replied, as if it were obvious. "They had no right to treat you that way, so I had to show them that."

Castiel stepped back. "You didn't have to do that, Dean."

Dean stared at him, "Yes, I did. You've been my best friend for awhile now, Cas. I'm not gonna let some lame guys pick on you for no good reason."

Castiel stared back at Dean for a few moments. "Thanks, Dean."

"Hey, it was no problem. Let's head out," Dean replied, walking ahead of the other boy in the direction of Castiel's house.

Castiel stared after him for a moment, smiled, and walked up to his side.


	4. Everlasting Arms

A chime sounded above the door as Castiel walked into the Roadhouse. He and Dean had made a habit out of coming there on weekend and summer mornings to eat breakfast together at 10:00 in the morning. Currently it was the summer between their sophomore and junior years of high school. Castiel always got their right on time, but Dean, as usual, was always late. Not that Castiel minded. Castiel was okay with anything Dean did. Castiel was slightly in lo- Castiel really liked Dean in a more-than-friendly manner.

As Castiel sat in a booth in the back corner of the diner, Dean walked in. It was quite early for Dean to be there, but he seemed very excited as he sat across from Castiel.

"Cas, you'll never guess what happened," Dean spoke in a rushed tone.

"I don't know, tell m-"

Dean cut Castiel off, saying, "My dad gave me the Impala! Can you believe it? He loves that car!"

"Really? Wow, Dean, that's great! You can drive places now!" Castiel already had a car, an old, beat up Jeep, so he had always had to drive Dean places. Again, not that he minded.

After they had eaten breakfast, they both parted and left for their own houses. Castiel got in his car and listened to music all the way home. He was proud of his music taste, even though Dean called it "modern, hippie, peppy stuff".

Later that night, he heard a car rumbling outside his room. He looked out to see the Impala outside, apparently Dean had invited himself over. Castiel flopped back onto his bed, expecting Dean to come straight up to his room as he always did.

He was surprised to hear his mother calling up the stairs to him, "Castiel? Dean's here. He wants you to come down here." Flustered, Castiel hopped out of the bed and ran down his stairs, turning the corner to see Dean standing by the front door.

"Hello, Dean," Castiel said, tilting his head in confusion. Dean looked at Castiel, as if he had not heard him come down the stairs.

A smile broke out across Dean's face as he replied, "Hey, Cas, you wanna head out for a little bit? I don't care what we do, I just wanna do something."

They left the house, after Castiel told his mother that he was leaving, and just drove. Castiel had said that he did not care what they did either, so they decided to just drive to one of the places they had discovered together over the years.

They pulled up into an empty field that they liked to come to so they could just relax. They dropped themselves onto the ground and stayed silent for awhile.

Finally, Castiel asked, "Why did you seem in such a rush to leave, Dean?"

Dean, who had been in a daze, snapped out of it and said, "Oh, Sammy was spending the night at a friend's house and Dad was drunk, so I took that as my cue to head out."

Castiel hummed in acknowledgement and said softly, "It's alright, Dean, you're always welcome at my place."

Something seemed to have snapped in Dean at that, and he stared at Castiel for a few seconds, with an unfamiliar expression in his eyes. He leaned over and grabbed Castiel's coat lapels and pulled him closer.

When Dean kissed Castiel, it felt like fire and rain together. It felt like all Castiel had hoped it would and beyond. Dean tasted like Dutch apple pie and something that could only be described as the summer night. Dean smelled like worn leather and his shampoo.

Somehow, Castiel found himself sitting on top of Dean, still plunging his tongue into the other's mouth. Finally, they pulled apart, resting their foreheads together and breathing heavily. They stared at each other for awhile, like they normally did, until Dean finally spoke.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

Castiel chuckled, replying, "I could say the same thing."


	5. A Certain Romance

_**Wow heh I haven't uploaded this in awhile. I'm sorry, I'll try to update it at a more regular interval. I'm bad at this. Anyways, thank you guys for reading my attempt at a multi-chapter fic.**_

* * *

When they were beginning their senior year of high school, Dean and Castiel decided to not discuss college with each other at all until they had decided which they would go to. When they had told each other which college they would be going to, it turned out both had been accepted into Wichita State. Now, they were both nineteen and almost done with their freshman year of college. Castiel was majoring in educational psychology, while Dean was majoring in engineering technology.

They had decided against sharing a dorm, but instead had an apartment which was not very far from campus. Okay, maybe it wasn't the greatest place, but they loved it there. There were things about the apartment that made it their own. Such as the black smudge on the wall above the couch from that one time Dean had thrown a misguided permanent marker at Castiel. Also, the dent in the bathroom door from when Sam had visited and tried to chuck a baseball at Dean's head. For reasons unknown, a lot of poorly aimed tosses took place in the apartment of Castiel Novak and Dean Winchester.

Castiel returned from his Friday afternoon class and rolled onto the lumpy couch, sighing as he felt a spring press into his lower back. Dean would be home in about half an hour with the promise of a late lunch.

Accidentally falling into a doze, Castiel woke when he smelled the grease of a burger from his favorite diner. He opened his eyes to the sight of Dean plopping a brown bag and his keys onto the counter. Dean turned, seeing that Castiel had awoken. Smiling, he walked toward Cas and sat down on top of his legs.

Groaning, Castiel thrashed his legs until Dean fell off of him. He landed with a thud while the other laughed merrily above him.

Pulling himself to his feet again, Dean stared down at Castiel and glared at him. "Oh, laugh now, angel, but I just got you your favorite food from your favorite place and I don't have to give it to you. So you should be begging for my forgiveness right about now."

Chuckling some more, Castiel dropped off the couch and onto his knees, pleading, "Oh, please, have mercy on me, Dean Winchester, I should have continued to let your crushing weight bear down upon my shins instead of saving myself."

Dean rolled his eyes at the poor joke, but was unable to hide his small grin from Castiel. After Dean helped him to his feet, he strode ahead of him towards the counter and the food. Cas plopped himself onto a stool and grabbed the food.

When they had finished eating, it was almost time for Castiel's shift at the campus bookstore. He quickly got ready, kissed Dean an the cheek, and was out the door.

Cas was working the register that night. Everyone who worked at the bookstore would rather be working the register than stocking. They would have to manually carry all the books to the shelves, and if they got one book out of place, they were bound to hear something about it. Castiel preferred to keep his head down and try to make as little eye contact as possible with the bookstore patrons.

When it was nearing the end of his shift, there were fewer customers in the store. Someone approached the counter, placing a copy of Milton's Paradise Lost on the counter. Castiel didn't even bother looking up and grabbed the book, scanning it.

The customer began to drawl in a familiar, sickening accent, causing Castiel to flinch a little bit. The voice murmured, "Oh, Cassie, who knew you worked here? If I had known, I'd come more often. You know how much I love to see your face."

Castiel looked up, blushing and irritated. Balthazar was a couple years older than Castiel and incredibly pushy. Apparently, he didn't seem to know that Castiel already had a boyfriend. If he did, then he obviously didn't care. Cas decided to ignore him and got his change as quickly as possible, shoving it into Balthazar's hand with a scowl on his face.

Balthazar had the nerve to wink at Castiel as he grabbed his book and turned on his heel, shoving his way out the door. Sighing, Castiel looked at the clock. Luckily, he would be able to clock out in a few minutes.

Finally, when Castiel was able to clock out, he headed outside into the warm, spring air. Usually on nights Castiel had to work late, Dean would pick him up a few blocks away. They didn't exactly trust all the people hanging around the WSU campus at night. Walking along the sidewalk, looking down the street ahead of him, Castiel felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. Immediately, he tensed up, seeing that it was Balthazar again.

"What do you want?" Castiel snapped, just wanting to go home and crawl into bed.

Balthazar smirked, proposing, "Why, I just wanted to take you out for a drink, ol' Cassie-boy. C'mon, it'll be fun."

"Hey," a voice sounded ahead, and Castiel immediately looked up and into the eyes of his very pissed off boyfriend. "I'll just be taking my boyfriend of almost three years home with me now. If you'll excuse me."

Castiel wriggled out of Balthazar's grip and quickly walked to Dean, who grabbed his hand and started walking again. Cas spoke up, mumbling, "You didn't need to do that, Dean. I could have handled it on my own."

Dean sighed, "I know, Cas, I know. I just... I don't wanna see that. You're mine. That guy's a dick. I don't like to see people trying to treat you like that."

Smiling a little bit, Castiel nodded, replying, "I know, it's fine... Thank you."

Dean brought Castiel's hand to his mouth and kissed it. "Alright, there's a Star Trek marathon on tonight, and if we get home soon we'll be just in time for the next episode," Dean announced over his shoulder as he pulled Castiel behind him on the way towards their apartment building. "Come on!"


End file.
